Third
lecture examines historical mysteriesThe school board held their regular October meeting Monday, Oct. 18.
Scott Perrin read a letter he presented to the school board suggesting
some changes to the school breakfasts and lunches.
It appears below this article.
Mitchell Marx of Presnell & Gage was present for the annual auditor’s
report. He went over all the opinion letters that are required and talked
about a new government auditing standard.
Steve Lamont’s resignation letter as wrestling coach was read and approved
by the board.
In facility updates Rene’ Forsmann said she has been working with the
architect regarding the lower floor at the high school. The teachers have
discussed what is necessary for their rooms. At this point they are on
schedule with their time line with construction to start in January. A
clean air test will need to be done once the walls are taken down.
Forsmann also reported that the Release Time program called and wanted
to know how many classrooms will likely be needed at the Middle School
once the Elementary building is closed. Forsmann said she would work with
her schedule and figure out what they would need.
There was discussion on several options for the future of the buildings.
Forsmann and the other administrators will discuss this and report back
at the next meeting.
In administrative reports Randy Brown gave a proposed change for the
drug policy. He explained he had a concern regarding the timing of the
appeals process. The outcome of the appeal will stand as a positive
or negative reading with the procedure to be done at the hospital and done
quickly using the same test used at the high school.
Forsmann talked about teacher evaluations and the requirements needed
to get the process approved. The evaluation model used by the Cottonwood
School District is aligned to the state minimum standards based on Charlotte
Danielson’s Framework for teaching domains and components of instruction.
The staff will complete a portfolio that will be part of the evaluation
model. On Oct. 29th all staff will meet to discuss this model and the requirements.
Forsmann also reported that on Thursday, Nov. 11, there will be a Veteran’s
Day program at the Middle School.
The board adjourned at 8:30 p.m.
The next regular meeting will be Monday, November 15 at 7 p.m.
School
Board Members,Below is a request I wish you to consider in conjunction with our new
school administrators. The request may cause some of you to roll your eyes
or be annoyed. I also expect some will not understand my reason, but please
“hear” me out. The request is this:
Relinquish, when possible, the “free” food during the summer, and abandon
or minimize the “same” program during the school year. Below are my reasons.
The reasons are not listed by priority. Again, I know you may not accept
these reasons or understand the reasons you are about to read or hear,
but please consider them. Here they are:
Reason #1: Current results of the free food program is fostering and
encouraging laziness and indolence. The premise of the “free food” program,
as explained to me, is that this community has many low-income or “poor”
families…and they need the food. Is it not presumptuous to label people
of this community “poor” and because they are “poor” conclude that they
eat poorly? If this is current logic we would miserably fail the proofs
of geometry. The ranch-honest truth is “poor” people do not eat poor food,
lazy people eat poor food or no food. Take a step back and review the results
(not the intention). What do you think?
Reason #2: The program is spending borrowed money…in practical terms,
money that doesn’t exist. Spending borrowed money in this case I think
is bad behavior to model to students. What if they adopted this spending
policy in their lives…that they spent their earnings away to the point
they would borrow money for snacks/food. We are buying food with money
that’s a load and giving the I.O.U. to the boys and girls so they can pay
it off when they get older. We’re so kind. We’re creating future indentured
servants to the “state.” Does this “sit” well with anyone? Do we have a
right to “enslave” children to pay off our spending policies? Of course
this is only one program. My real opinion? I think it is “Nauseatingly
Arrogant.”
Reason #3: What work do those who eat the food give in exchange for
the food? There are only 2 groups of people that live, honest people and
dishonest people, regardless of nationality or ethnicity. God created you,
me and what we need to live. He also created the earth in such a way that
it only yields its wealth to the man or woman who works. What work do those
who eat the food give in exchange for the food? What are we teaching our
children? To be sponges and feel “entitled” to money and food that they
didn’t work or pay for? Isn’t the goal of the school to help cultivate
skills so that individuals do NOT become sponges or mooches?
Reason #4: This program from its implementation here in Cottonwood
has been bullying/using (dare I say pimping) children to get money for
the district. When little boys and girls 6 to 9 years old, attending elementary
school (or other students at the middle school or high school) are encouraged
to “touch”/”eat” the food so the school can get money, these boys and girls
are being bullied or used for money. Isn’t this a step just above begging,
or is it the step below begging. What term would you call it when we use
other peoples’ children to get money. It’s almost a kind of pimping. Some
people have no shame how they earn money. (Sadly this has happened in the
school district. I have personal experience over the years, including last
month).
Reason #5: Gross Inefficiency. The actual costs for the free food program
is expensive, even though the money may also subsidize other programs.
How many salaries are we providing (including all federal, state, and district
employees) to feed one child at best a mediocre meal? Work the numbers
if you have them; divide the total budget by the number of meals. How much
does each meal cost? As a school district are we spending $15 to buy “$1
candy bars?” How many of us go to the store and say to the cashier “Milk
is only $2.50…Have a $20?” Sure the money might go to someone else, but
let them look like stupid stewards. Just because Primeland has a BBQ once
a year…do we attend and eat their hamburgers because if we don’t eat them
someone else will?
Reason #6: And probably the most important to the family unit, the
foundation of our community. The program attempts to rob the liberty and
dignity of parents who want to act on the responsibility they feel inside
to provide for their children. (Sometimes children at breakfast say “I’m
not hungry, I get the free food at school…don’t worry about preparing anything
for me”) Soon, because of convenience, parents don’t bother preparing breakfast,
and/or students don’t bother about preparing themselves breakfast if their
folks aren’t home. The extension of this is ugly dependency. From the Reader’s
Digest many years ago come the story: “Seagulls are Dying even though Fishing
is Good.” For many years the seagulls followed the shrimping fleets in
our area. They ate leftovers from the shrimping nets. Recently the shrimping
fleet moved to new waters far away. Not the local seagulls and the offspring
of the seagulls have begun to die even though the regular fishing is great.
The local seagulls stopped teaching their offspring how to fish several
generations ago. Now we have the offspring of the offspring who are dependent
on the shrimping fleet’s welfare nets, and they are dying because they
don’t know how to fish.
Now, a concluding word. (I’ve been invited to participate in the program
because our family qualifies, but I’ve chosen not to participate.) I know
that relinquishing the program doesn’t solve the problem of money. I believe
many in the room wish circumstances were different. Can we do better?
Your obedient servant,
Scott Perrin